1980 gs850 petcock?

[Guest]

I put a new petcock on my bike. It is the kind that works with a vacuum off the carb. I took my fuel line off the petcock with gas in the tank and fuel runs out of the petcock. Is that ok? I thought the fuel only comes out of the tank if the bike is on and the vac is working.

 

[Rijko]

There are petcocks with and without lever, both use vacuum.
I think your bike uses the one without lever, correct ?

And you're right - it should not let fuel through without the engine running,
unless in PRIme position.
The smaller petcock without lever has a small slit on the side,
which can be turned with a screwdriver to change between ON and PRIme.
I think this slit should be in the vertical position, is it ?

What happens if you take off the vacuum hose on the carb side and
suck/blow a few times on the hose, can you feel like a valve open/close ?

 

[Steve]

The '80 850G uses a petcock with a lever. Unfortunately, the '80 850GL has a petcock without a lever.

Which one do you have?

If you have the G with the lever, make sure the lever is pointing DOWN or FORWARD before pulling the hose. If you have it pointing BACKWARD, that is the PRIme position and yes, fuel will flow freely.

.

 

[Who Dat?]

Yellowjacket,

You have been asking a few questions here for almost two years (May, 2008). During that time, several people have asked you exactly which model 850 you have. Is it the standard 850G or is it the 850GL?

As you can see from the posts in this thread alone, it makes a difference. You have never mentioned which one it is, and have also ignored several requests to make a short signature that mentions it. If you do that once, you won't ever have to remember to mention it again.

 

[Guest]

Rijko,
You were right on thanks. The mechanism was not fully vertical. The tank does not leak gas anymore. Making progress.

 

[850 Combat]

I'm going to try on of these replacements; $90 for OEM is too much:

https://vod.ebay.com/vod/FetchOrderDetails?ViewPaymentStatus&purchaseOrderId=240000460610037

Anybody tried it? I've used the OEM 1982 850/1100G type on a 1000G, but it is a sight PITA, with hose routing.

 

[eil]

That link only goes to your purchase confirmation page (or something), we can't see what the item is.

I bought an aftermarket petcock for my 1980 850GL back when I first got it. Looked absolutely identical to OEM and never gave me any trouble. There may very well be some aftermarket ones that are junk, so YMMV.

 

[850 Combat]

I'm going to try on of these replacements; $90 for OEM is too much:

https://vod.ebay.com/vod/FetchOrderDetails?ViewPaymentStatus&purchaseOrderId=240000460610037

Anybody tried it? I've used the OEM 1982 850/1100G type on a 1000G, but it is a sight PITA, with hose routing.

I installed the EBay petcock on a 1981 GS1000G. The orientation of the vacuum line is different, but of no consequence. The fuel line connection to the carbs ends up pointing slightly close to the frame. It is kind of minimal clearance for the bend radius of the high pressure fuel injection rated line I installed previously. I recommend it. No telling how long it will last, but the OEM one I installed within the last 5 or 6 years. 90 bucks for another was too much. Three of the replacements can be had for that. https://www.ebay.com/itm/263572018743

 

[rphillips]

Hey Combat, I think with all, or most all, of these Suzuki petcocks, you can take them apart & rotate the back plate to any of the 4 positions, so the fuel & vacuum outlets will work best for your application. I'm with you, $90 for something I can get for $30 would be hard to do. Also I've been lucky, I've use the rebuild kits in them & never had a problem, not sure how many, probably a half dozen or so. Many here have had no luck with the kits but for me no problem.

 

[850 Combat]

Well, the thing is defective out of the box. It doesn't turn off correctly. Darn it.

 

[rphillips]

Hey Combat, Have you taken your old one apart? They are really simple. not much to go wrong. Make sure the seat is clean & smooth (pencil eraser works good), make sure "O" ring is not cut or dinged & is all good, (clean good with WD-40), & stretch the little weak spring a little, heck it's 40 yrs. old, probably weakened a little & a little makes a difference in these things. Then also can rotate back cover so the fuel & vacuum ports better fit your needs. Only other possibility would be a hole in diaphragm & I don't know how to check that other than look at it..... Just my opinion, & a cheap opinion at that.

 

[850 Combat]

I threw the old petcock out. Upon further inspection and testing, the petcock seems to me working correctly and the needles are holding in the carbs. I had the carbs and tank off the bike and connected up for hours yesterday. There was no sign of any fuel going where it wasn't supposed to, in either the on or the prime position. Float needles are holding. Petcock is functioning properly.

There is a leak from somewhere in the starter cavity though, and the oil reservoir appears to be over filled. I'm not understanding this yet. The oil is running on to the bottom crank case cover where the drain plug is.

 

[rphillips]

If the needles are holding, you will never know if the pet cock is holding or not. If the pet cock is holding you'll never know the needles are leaking (unless it's a huge needle & seat leak). What are you calling the oil reservoir? Are you saying the oil, thru the sight glass, is over full? If so, either someone overfilled it, or gas has leaked thru carbs into crankcase. Remove filler cap & see if oil smells like gas. 3 yrs. ago my "05" Bandit 12, over the winter, had leaked gas into the crankcase till it was plum above the sight glass. I knew I had both a needle & seat problem & a pet cock problem. I repaired the easiest, the pet cock & have had no issues with it since. Any known problem should be fixed, I should fix the needles, but as long as the pet cock is holding, it should be OK (unless the needles get really bad. just my opinion.

 

[850 Combat]

I set the tank up on a 5 gallon pail and tested the petcock. It opens on "prime" and closes on "on" without vacuum. I held hooked it up to the carbs for a few hours. The carbs didn't leak on Prime. There is a bad oil leak though, coming from she well where the starter is, and running down to the bottom of the crank case. I haven't pulled the starter. The leak started when I was testing the battery voltage. I held the RPMs at about 5k for a bit until voltage got to 14, measuring through the Battery Tender harness.

I don't smell gas in the oil,but it must be there. I haven't had these carbs off before. Never needed to. I've had the bike for more than a decade. They went out of synch, but a valve adjustment brought them right back, and they didn't need adjustment.

 

[rphillips]

My Bandit was way over full, gas smell was very noticeable, if yours is only a little over full, the odor should be way less obvious. Only oil that could get to the starter well should be from the "O" ring where the starter goes thru to the starter clutch. Pretty simple fix. Good luck,